Making New Christmas Memories

December 23, 2014

Today, being Christmas Eve Eve :), I just have to share my heart. It’s a bittersweet day for me, because my precious granddaughter of 10 years has arrived in Virginia with her mom and stepdad and sister for a visit with his family. They left last night around midnight from a rainy night in Georgia to travel to a cold morning in Virginia. They will be gone only for a week, but it is one of the most important weeks in history!! Christmas!! Hello!? Don’t you know that I want my granddaughter with me during this important and eventful week!?!

Jaden has lived with us ever since she was born. Even though her mom married 2 years ago, she continues to live with us because well, she just wants to, and we don’t mind it. Her mom lives only a couple of miles away, so the living situation is all good. You see, for the past 10 years we have been blessed with a granddaughter who has spent every Christmas with us and now we are left alone with no presents left under the tree, no toys hidden away upstairs ready for Santa Claus to put under the tree, and no little girl asking me, “Grandma, when are we going to bake Christmas cookies?”

What I’m left with today are two little sheets of paper with artwork that she did for us before she left last night. By the way, when her mom came to get her last night, we all cried and cried. It was pretty heart wrenching and a time I’ll probably never forget. But Jaden did go willingly, and as long as she did that, we knew it was the right thing for her to do.

Ok….I know this sounds really sad and it is, but what I have to remember is now that my children are all grown up and they have new families that we have to share time with, it is time for me and Dan to make some new memories that may not be as traditional as what we are used to but are still sweet memories nevertheless. I guess you would call it a new season in our lives. Is it easy? Absolutely not!! Not for a person like me who loves to keep with traditions when it comes to Christmas. But in order for us to continue living the wonderful life God gave us, we need to do that….(by the way, my dear friend Donna had to help me realize this).

So, here is what we did this year. It may not become a new tradition for us but we definitely had fun.

This is Dan and me at my stepmom’s house on Sunday afternoon. My half brother and his wife were in town and so we all got together with my brothers, half sister and and their families at my step mom’s house. We had a great time, eating wonderful food, watching football, and we all brought gifts to play “Dirty Santa”. I love the fact that even though my dad is deceased, my step mom and half sister try their best to keep us connected. This event definitely did that and it was a lot of fun!

Since my son is only a few miles away from my stepmom’s house, he invited us to come to his house to go ahead and exchange gifts with each other. So, my daughter and her family came too. We had crockpot vegetable soup which was made by my son and cornbread (made by Publix 🙂 ). It was yummy. Then we gathered around their living room and exchanged gifts. We like to go around and unwrap 1 gift at a time. Jaden had so many gifts, that we got her to unwrap 2-3 gifts at a time. She needed to unwrap her Santa gifts too! That’s why she had so many!!

I sat there the whole time just letting this memory soak into my heart so I could remember it forever. I knew that even though it wasn’t the “REAL” Christmas day, it was OUR Christmas day!

Now of course being me, there was definitely some mishaps. I left out a giftcard from my son in law’s stocking (which by the way was a Publix Christmas reusable bag….I loved using these instead of bringing the stocking from my fireplace…that way, it was easier for my kids to just take the stocking goodies with them) and I shorted my son a giftcard….I’m all about keeping the gifts as even as possible. But, all in all it was a fun time and everyone was happy.

Here is a pic of my son and daughter in law’s Christmas tree. They pin their Christmas cards on it with clothespins. I love it!!

Do you ever find a gift that you buy more than 1 of because you think other people would like it? Well I do. This year it was this adapter that you plug into any outlet and it has 6 multiple outlets with two USB outlets on the top. My son (on the right) and son in law (on the left) . They were really excited to get this little contraption!

Here is a pic of me with my two granddaughters and my sweet daughter, Whitney! By the way, the baby’s name is Virginia. They are precious ones in my life. I am also blessed with 1 terrific daughter in law!

Ok so that is how we made a new Christmas memory this year.

Yes, since we’ve already celebrated Christmas, it is very quiet in our house….Dan is actually working (he works from home by the way) on his computer and I have the TV turned off while I’m typing.

I’m missing Jaden terribly….

but she did call us this morning and she was fine and excited to be in Virginia and the family there had breakfast waiting for them…..

and I may bake cookies or not…..can’t decide yet……

….I still need to go and get my son a giftcard….by the way he and his wife are spending the night with us Christmas Eve before they see her family on Christmas morning….we have Christmas Eve dinner at my mom’s house.

….and now I’m looking at a Christmas tree that is sparkling and dripping with ornaments that have been bought throughout the years, and I’m reminiscing over all of the past Christmas memories and pondering these treasures in my heart. However, I’m also excited thinking about the new memories that are yet to come and all of this is making me feel

MIGHTY BLESSED!

God bless you and I hope you create some great Christmas memories, too!

Related

Hi! I am a kindergarten teacher who is passionate about her job! I am a christian woman who has been married for over 30 years. I have 2 terrific married children with awesome spouses! I also have a 9 year old and 5 month old granddaughter! I am truly blessed beyond measure!!

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2 Comments

Bonnie

January 4, 2015 at 2:18 pm

i thought your story was precious, such honesty, and love. I am so glad that in a changing world some things may never need to change and that is the individual love we have for someone. Sweet love will last forever and will never return void. Thank you for sharing your heart……